Culinary cites Station ‘police state’ in sizzling attack

Culinary Local 226 continued to ratchet up the rhetoric in its campaign to unionize workers at Station Casinos LLC.

D. Taylor, the union's secretary-treasurer, took the opportunity Monday to compare Station's treatment of its employees to life in a Middle Eastern police state.

Taylor, along with dozens of union officials, members and Station employees attended a news conference at the union's headquarters on Commerce Street. The conference was in response to Thursday's ruling allowing 83 claims of unfair labor practices against the company to proceed to a hearing by the full three-panel National Labor Relations Board.

Taylor noted that the judge had ordered Station to cease practices such as surveillance of employees to discover their union activities, denying work opportunities, punishing workers and threatening their jobs.

"Those are the characteristics of a police state ... not of a Nevada casino that has the privilege of a gaming license," Taylor said.

He also compared Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta III and VIce Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for what he described as lying to the media about their employees' ability to unionize.

He pointed to a recent interview with Heavy MMA in which Lorenzo Fertitta said the decision to unionize at any time is "their choice," and that the company "had nothing to do with it."

Station officials dismissed Monday's event as a stunt.

"This made-for-TV event is just another example of the union trying to use the media to continue its campaign of harassment against Station Casinos," spokeswoman Lori Nelson said.

But union member Michael Wagner, a 15-year Station employee, said he expected the company to describe Monday's news conference as a media stunt.

"This isn't a stunt," Wagner said. "I've been intimidated and harassed because I put on a union button. The employees at Station want a union."

Among the 83 charges allowed to proceed was a complaint filed by Norma Flores, who has worked for 10 years at Fiesta Henderson. Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter found she had been punished unfairly for her union activities.

"I'm fighting because I want a better future for my family and co-workers," Flores said. "They harassed me only because I tried to organize. We need respect."

Taylor and Culinary President Geoconda Arguello Kline described the ruling as a total loss for the company. He said the judge found more violations of federal law by Station than in any previous case against a Nevada gaming company.

The next step is for the NLRB to review the decision. Culinary officials expect the board to settle the matter by the end of next year.

Richard McCracken, counsel to the Culinary union, said that having a three-member NLRB, rather than the normal five members, slowed the process. He said he expects Station to take advantage of the process and try to delay, but the company is only "delaying the inevitable."

McCracken expects the union to file new charges within a couple of weeks.

Valerie Murzl, Station Casinos' senior vice president of human resources, expressed confidence that the NLRB's three-member panel would find the company hasn't violated any aspect of the National Labor Relations Act.

"This action isn't about the Culinary union protecting workers' rights, it's part of the union's campaign to try to force us to recognize the union without our (employees) being given the opportunity to vote in a secret ballot election," Murzl said.

Company officials are also quick to point out that from 1976 until February 2010, Station Casinos operated without any unfair labor claims filed against the company. The company had faced more than 400 charges in the original complaint, which were reduced to about 200 claims before the judge last week settled on 83.

Peter Pantaleo, a labor attorney with DLA Piper in New York, who represents the locals gaming company, said the remaining charges were "not even worth the price of admission."

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at
csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.